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Bitcoin's Price Was Artificially Inflated Last Year, Researchers Say (nytimes.com)
A concentrated campaign of price manipulation may have accounted for at least half of the increase in the price of Bitcoin and other big cryptocurrencies last year, according to a paper released on Wednesday by an academic with a history of spotting fraud in financial markets. From a report, first shared to us by reader davidwr: The paper by John Griffin, a finance professor at the University of Texas, and Amin Shams, a graduate student, is likely to stoke a debate about how much of Bitcoin's skyrocketing gain last year was caused by the covert actions of a few big players, rather than real demand from investors. Many industry players expressed concern at the time that the prices were being pushed up at least partly by activity at Bitfinex, one of the largest and least regulated exchanges in the industry. The exchange, which is registered in the Caribbean with offices in Asia, was subpoenaed by American regulators shortly after articles about the concerns appeared in The New York Times and other publications. Mr. Griffin looked at the flow of digital tokens going in and out of Bitfinex and identified several distinct patterns that suggest that someone or some people at the exchange successfully worked to push up prices when they sagged at other exchanges. To do that, the person or people used a secondary virtual currency, known as Tether, which was created and sold by the owners of Bitfinex, to buy up those other cryptocurrencies.
So the price is always artificially inflated.
Bitcoin has no value. It is just smoke and mirrors.
Paper money is only mildly better, especially now that it has no gold backing.
Gold backed was also not real.
Gold in fact has no real value other than what it can actually be used for to make things of use.
To find something with real value we need to go back to beans, firewood, pork, tools, etc. These sorts of things have real value.
This is an excellent research opportunity into how unregulated markets will be manipulated. I am glad to see somebody took it.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
A concentrated campaign of price manipulation may have accounted for at least half of the increase in the price of Bitcoin and other big cryptocurrencies last year,
Just say it. It's a Ponzi scheme. Admit it and you'll feel better.
If you are an honest believer in cryptocurrencies I admire your earnest faith in humanity but virtually everything about cryptocurrences virtually screams scam to anyone with a functioning brain and any sense of skepticism. It is nothing more than a bunch of greedy people trying to make a fast buck from credulous fools using the latest financial fad.